Realization
by Alexandra Shinai
Summary: "Are you sure this is gonna work?" "It just has to." Elizabeth West and James Oliver are best friends. When Liz visits him, they find a shocking surprise from the past, and now it's up to them to correct it. Bade, Bat
1. Chapter 1

**I hope this will be good. Probably not.**

It was 8 pm on a Friday night in California. Elizabeth West was spending her Friday night on cam, with her best friend, James Oliver. She didn't realize how crucial their last names were to their pasts. Elizabeth's mom didn't seem to care.

"Do you ever get tired of just talking on cam?" Elizabeth, nicknamed Liz, asked thoughtfully. She was twirling a strand of hair around the index finger on her right hand.

James pondered this for a few seconds. "Sometimes. I think it'd be nice if we saw each other in person."

Liz's eyes widened. "But you live in Colorado, and I live in California!"

He smirked. "I know."

"You know my mom wouldn't let me." she retorted.

"My mom wouldn't care. I bet she'd pay for the plane ticket."

She looked at him and said dryly, "We're eleven."

"So?"

"I can't fly on a plane alone."

"Can too."

"Let me go ask my mom." Liz rose from her chair. On James's screen, all he saw was her chair, but it was empty. He could hear Liz's voice, though.

"Mom! Can I go to Colorado?"

"Sure, sure, whatever."

Liz reappeared about twenty seconds later. Her eyes lit up happily.

"She said yes."

James smirked again. "Let me go ask my mom if she'll pay for the plane ticket. I'll tell her it's for a friend." He disappeared.

"Mom, can you pay for the plane ticket for my friend Liz? She wants to come to Colorado."

"Sure!" his mom answered brightly. Liz could only hear it.

James returned a few seconds later. "I don't think she actually understood. She says sure to almost everything. Oh well. My dad will have to pay for it then."

"But your dad can afford it, right?" Liz asked, taking a swig out of her water bottle.

"Yeah. He's crazy rich. He doesn't like to use it though. That's why we live in a middle-class neighborhood, in a two-story house. He says he's saving up. I don't know what for."

"Hey, James."

"Yeah?"

"What are your parents like? And what are their jobs?"

"Why are you asking?"

"I just wanna know."

"Well, my mom is pretty crazy. She has bright red hair and she gets offended easily. But she's really funny. And she works as a baker. My dad has black-ish brown hair and he's pretty cool. He's famous, you've probably heard of him, haven't you?"

"Maybe. Beck Oliver, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

She snapped her fingers. "Yeah, I've heard of him."

"Liz?"

"Yeah?"

"What are we waiting for?"

"Huh? Waiting for what?"

"Come to Colorado!" he said eagerly. "Now!"

She rolled her eyes. "My mom wouldn't let me now. And I have to go pack. I think I'll leave tomorrow."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. We might be eleven, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna let adults keep me from my best friend."

"Alright. I need to go." He peered over his shoulder. "I think my mom's messing with the TV remote. She's yelling "BECK, THIS DOESN'T WORK!"

Liz nodded. "I can hear."

"Bye, Liz. I expect to see you here by Sunday."

"Don't count on it."

He grinned, and then the screen that had shown him went black, indicating he had turned his cam off. She turned hers off as well and clicked the "X" to close the computer window.

Tomorrow was going to be a long day for her.


	2. Chapter 2

It was 10 AM on Saturday morning in California. Liz was packing, just shoving random articles of clothing into her suitcase because she really wanted to see James. She didn't even know how long she would stay, that hadn't even been planned. Liz's mother was standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe with a soft smile on her face. The scene reminded her of her in her younger days, but it was because of a bad event, not a good event.

Liz's mother wasn't that old, she was 25, which was considerably younger than most of the other kids in her class's parents.

"You're gonna leave me, aren't you? Tired of your mom already?" she asked playfully. Liz turned around, not expecting her mother to be watching her.

"N-No," she stammered. She was aware of the fact that her mother hadn't been paying attention last night when she asked if she could go to Colorado.

"I'm just kidding. But you'll leave me someday, I know that." She shrugged, walking up to Liz and surfing through the contents of her suitcase. "You might need self-defense, you know. You're pretty young, Liz."

Liz nodded, swallowing. She wasn't used to her mother being so kind. Usually, her mother ignored her. But maybe her leaving was a different situation.

"But I can't bring a knife to the airport with me, Mom," she explained. "Strict security."

Her mother nodded thoughtfully. "Be safe, Liz." she whispered. Liz thought she could almost see tears in her mother's eyes, but she turned on her heel and left.

She sighed. Her life was so confusing sometimes.

She walked over to her dresser and opened a drawer. Buried underneath some of her clothes was an old picture she found in her mother's room. She pulled the picture out.

It was faded and worn at the corners, as if it had been going around for a long time, but it really hadn't, only eleven years.

It was a picture of a girl who had a clear similarity to her mother and probably WAS her mother. But standing next to the girl was a boy that just happened to be the one and only, Beck Oliver. She only knew because of the distinct similarities, and she had also shown it to James, who had confirmed the probability of it.

She tucked it carefully into her suitcase, ready to question about it if possible.

And Liz didn't know this, but she was doing practically the same thing Jade West had done eleven years earlier.

Except for the fact that Liz was visiting a friend and Jade was running from her problems, they were the same.

**2:30 PM in Colorado**

Liz finally spotted James after she got out of her plane and was now trying to get through the crowd to him.

"Liz!" James shouted as they hugged. Even though they hadn't met each other in real life until now, they were close friends.

"Hey, James." Liz smiled. She lowered her voice to a whisper so his mom, Cat Oliver, wouldn't hear. "Remember that picture I showed you?"

"Of your mom and my dad? Yeah."

"I'm gonna ask your dad about it."

James's eyes practically fell out of their sockets. "Liz!" he hissed. "You can't! First of all, my dad will probably be busy. Second of all, my dad has Cat! I don't think your mom matters very much to him if they ever knew each other!"

Liz sighed. "You're probably right. But I'm still gonna ask."

James rolled his eyes. "Fine. It's your call."


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm gonna try to write a lot for this story in the upcoming days. I have spring break on the 14th through the 18th, so I'll be updating then, whenever I don't have homework, etc. :)**

Liz was laying on the spare bed, her arms tucked under her head, staring up at the ceiling. These would be some pretty awkward days. James's dad was home, but apparently he was busy working. James's mom had forced him to go shopping with her, and had to practically drag him out of the house. It was just Liz and Beck.

A wild idea shot into her head. _Maybe, since he's the only one here, I can ask him about that picture.. No, Liz, don't! You'll be bothering him. He's famous. Who knows, there might be paparazzi right at the window!_

She shook her head, trying to clear her head of the strange little voices. She jumped up, unzipped her suitcase, and pulled the picture out. She needed answers _now _and if Elizabeth West was sure of one thing, it was that she would get the answers she needed.

She pushed the door of the guest bedroom open. It creaked slightly, but she grabbed it and silenced it. She tiptoed out and looked around. It was strangely quiet, except for the room at the end of the hall. Liz was in the upstairs guest bedroom and Beck was apparently in the office at the end of the hall. She walked toward the door and pressed her ear lightly against it.

"No, dude, I need it tonight! No exceptions! You know how important it is!" Liz jerked away from the door. She could definitely tell that was Beck's voice, recognizing it from the movies she'd seen him in. Carefully, with a large amount of precision, she opened the door. It took a large amount of precision because her hand was sweaty and kept slipping. She peered inside the room once she opened the door. Jeez, it was a mess. Beck looked like a mess himself.

He heard the door open and turned around. Her knees trembled from her anxiety. "I'll have to call you back later." he muttered into the phone. He pressed a button on the phone and set it on the table. He looked at her and gritted his teeth. "What do you want?" he hissed. "I'm busy. Why didn't Cat take you with her?"

"I-I don't know, sir. I j-just wanted to ask you about this." Before she could chicken out, she flipped the photo around in her hand to show him. He studied it for a few seconds.

"Oh, no." he whispered. He settled noisily into his chair and put his face in his hands. "Damn it." he muttered. Liz, not knowing what to do, left the picture on the desk and started to turn around to leave.

"Wait," he begged weakly. She turned around. He really did look like a mess, his hair disheveled, his eyes red-rimmed, his teeth gritted in both anger and sadness. "Who are you?"

"I'm Elizabeth West, sir." At the mention of her last name, his eyes widened.

"Just please go." he mumbled. She started towards the door, but as she slipped out, she could hear him. She didn't know if he was talking to himself or to her. "James is adopted. Cat can't have kids."

She quickly hurried back to the guest bedroom and shut the door. She flopped down on the bed, tears coming to her eyes.

She had gotten her answer, but it wasn't one she had expected.

* * *

"Yes, mom, I'm not bothering Beck." Liz sighed. She was on her cell phone, her mother anxiously making sure that she was okay. For a young parent, she was very concerned. "Yes, mom, I'm-MOM! Don't say that! Yes, I'm fine. Okay? Okay. Bye. " She punched the button to end the call on her phone and sighed deeply.

This was already very stressful and it was only the second day. What would the rest of the days be like?

Her door creaked open, and James's face appeared. She groaned and flopped onto her bed, shutting her eyes. "What? Your parents are stressing me out."

"Sorry."

"By the way, you're adopted."

"WHAT? But I look so much like my dad! Who told you?"

"Your dad."

"Oh."

"Yeah, he was all stressed out about that photo."

"You didn't.."

"I did."

"Liz! No wonder he was all stressed out!"

She smirked at him. "I'm onto something."

"What are you onto?"

"You'll think it's ridiculous."

"Just tell me."

Liz scooted up farther on the bed and propped herself up on the bed. "My theory is a little strange. My mom is 25, and I'm eleven. Your parents are 25, you're adopted, and you're eleven. But I'm not adopted, I look way too much like my mom to be adopted."

"What's your point?"

"I think my mom got pregnant at 13 or 14, moved away, and had me. But I think that at least Beck, Cat, and my mom, Jade, were all friends in high school. So Beck and Cat get married, and they move here. They find out Cat can't have a kid, so she adopts. Meanwhile, my mom moves back to LA and lets me grow up there. Then, something brought us here, in this one room, so we could make our parents get together like they were meant to be."

"How do you know that's true? You're making a lot of it up. You don't have many facts."

"Then we'll get facts, James. We will. We might even be siblings one day, if we put this theory into action."

"I can't decide if you're brave or insane."

"Both?"

"Probably. Now let's go bother my mom to take us to the library."

"Okay."


	4. Chapter 4

**So I deleted Twice.. only because I had no more inspiration for it and it was terribly short. And other reasons. I hope these chapters aren't terribly short either. This story takes place in 2019, as 1994 + 25 = 2019. And I know the little article thingy was short.**

"James. James." Liz started frantically jabbing James with her finger. Cat had taken them to the library, and she was currently involved in a deep discussion about unicorns with a five year old. Liz was on a computer, trying to sift through old articles to see if her mother's name was in any of them. James was flipping through an old _Sports Illustrated _magazine. Of course.

"What?" He looked up, putting the magazine back onto the table. "Look at this article!" she whispered. He turned his attention to the computer. It was a very old article, however, as it was dated 2008. They exchanged a quick glance at each other when they read the date. 2008 was the year they had both been born in.

_Jade West's New Daughter_

_Up-and-coming actress Jade West reportedly gave birth yesterday to a baby girl weighing 6 pounds, 4 ounces. The girl was named Elizabeth Marie West. It is unknown what will happen to little Elizabeth, seeing as Jade is only 14. It is also unknown who is the father of the baby, but it is reported to be an old flame, Beck Oliver. Jade was unable to comment. What will Elizabeth's future be like?_

"They're talking about you, Liz," James said, noting that Elizabeth's already pale face had paled even more. "You okay?" She bit down on her lip. "My theory's true, James," she whispered. "It doesn't even say that it's a California news website. It's Florida. It's true, James. All of it."

"Then we have to prove it's true, Liz. We have to prove that Cat, no matter how funny she is, should just be a friend of Beck's. We have to prove that Jade and Beck should be together." She nodded at his words. "We will. Go ask the librarian if you can print something. I'll stay here and make sure your mom doesn't start screaming at that kid." Cat was still involved in the discussion with the five year old. She looked a little angry now. Liz watched James converse with the librarian for about half a minute until she finally agreed. They printed the article out and Liz carefully tucked it into her jeans pocket. James went over to his mom and finally pulled her out of the discussion. The five year old fiercely stuck her tongue out at Cat, then ran off. Liz watched as James grabbed her from lunging after the kid.

She smiled to herself, thinking about what her life would've been like with two parents and a brother rather than one parent and no siblings. If the future had stayed the way it was supposed to be, then her parents would've been Beck Oliver and Jade West, but Jade probably would've been Jade Oliver. Jade would've been older now. James might've been her brother. But no, the future usually never stayed the way it was supposed to be.

James walked back over to Liz and motioned for her to come with them as Cat raced for the front doors. Liz laughed slightly as her antics, she wondered what Cat was like as a child. They entered a hushed discussion over their plans as they followed Cat out the front doors.

"What are you going to do, Liz?" She bit down on her lip after James asked this.

"I'm going to show Beck the article. We need a good explanation. We need to know what happened so we can fix it."

"Well, then we'll have to involve your mom as well."

"Why my mom?" James looked at her in disbelief. She blushed slightly.

"Your mom ran away. Beck wouldn't know what happened after she ran away, because he didn't come with her. Only she would know what happened. You might know some of it, but you wouldn't know what happened between her leaving and you being born."

"But.."

James stopped in his tracks, grabbed Liz's shoulders, and roughly shook her. "But what?" He looked at her with a fierce look in his eyes. "There is no but, Liz. This is big, okay? We need to fix this. This is our chance, Liz. Are you in this or not?"

"I.."

"Are you?"

"I am." She said, her voice finally showing some confidence. "I am," she repeated. He let go of her shoulders and nodded.

"Good." They continued to follow Cat, who had gotten distracted by the ducks in a nearby pond. She was laughing at them and trying to talk to them. They exchanged a quick glance of confusion when they saw her, but shrugged it off.

* * *

Liz had snuck back into Beck's office. He was on the phone once more, rapidly discussing something she probably didn't care about.

"No, no, that's the wrong order. I didn't ask for that many. No.." he was muttering into the phone. She gritted her teeth in anger, the article still tucked into her pocket.

"Beck," she said firmly. He spun in his chair to face her. A mixture of annoyance and surprise appeared on his face when he saw her. "Hang up." He put his hand over the phone.

"I really can't. Go do something else." He tried to wave her off, but the anger began to boil in her blood once more.

"I said," she growled, "Hang up." This was more important than whatever he had mistakenly ordered. That could wait; this couldn't. He sighed.

"Fine," he pressed a button on his phone and set it down on the desk. "What now?" She quickly pulled the article out of her pocket and put it into the palm of his hand.

"Read it." she demanded. She watched his eyes scan over it for a few seconds. His eyes stopped darting rapidly and instead he blinked a few times. She assumed it was out of shock.

"Wh.. I.." He was practically speechless. He glanced from her back to the tiny piece of paper over and over again. She put her hands on her hips, expecting at least one word to come out of his mouth.

"You really do look like Jade," he breathed. "So.. I had.. I had a daughter.. And no one told me?"

"Apparently so."

"Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. So it has." he muttered. "I just don't know what to say. I mean, you get a bunch of fucking financial problems and then you find out you have a kid with a girl who ran away from you." She assumed he didn't notice that he had sworn in front of her, but she was used to it. She had woken up to the sound of her mother's cursing almost daily as a child. "And then whoever you replaced that girl with gets heartbroken, and tries to take your other kid."

"I don't think that will happen."

"If that doesn't happen, what's going to happen?" He demanded. "First financial problems, then divorce problems, then child custody problems. I'm only 25! I can't deal with this!"

"And I'm only eleven, but I'd help you if I could."

"Sure you would." he muttered sarcastically. "After all, I am the father you never had." He laughed bitterly, and Liz was just a little bit worried. She was pretty sure this was a side of Beck that not even Jade had seen before. "I'm the irresponsible father. Why would you help me?"

"Because you are my father, and I'm your daughter, and we have to be here for each other." She knew a great deal of knowledge considering her age. It all came from her mother. "And I bet my mother's in a worse state than you are. You need to be there for her. You need to be there for your real love, Beck. Do you really love Cat?"

"I do.. But.. She's so.."

"She's so what? Weird? Unusual? Something you're not used to? I assume you and Jade would've stayed together if she hadn't ran away. So you need to think about this yourself, and decide what to do." She laughed, it was a bitter laugh not unlike the one he had laughed earlier. "Because I've helped all I could. It's your turn now. Do something." With that, she turned on her heel and left the room. He bit his lip and faced his desk again.

Glancing at the phone on his desk, he picked it up and began to dial the number he was shocked to know he still remembered. He placed the phone up to his ear and waited.

**SUSPENSE. :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**That last chapter did not turn out to be the way I expected. Liz seemed a little OOC with her big confidence boost. Oh well, it was my longest chapter, and I actually liked it.**

The phone rang once, then twice, then finally three times. The person on the other end picked up on the third ring, obviously not paying attention to the caller ID or they hadn't remembered it.

"..lo?" The voice on the other end was a tired one, as if they had just woken up, and so they couldn't say the full "Hello". Beck froze, getting some kind of undescribable fright and feeling a lump in his throat. His hand holding the phone trembled, from anxiety or shock he couldn't tell. He couldn't believe his ears.

It was her.

Her voice, when she spoke again, sounded clearer, as if she had fully woken up now. "If you don't answer me, I'm going to find you and stab you in the throat because obviously you have kidnapped my child." He couldn't help but chuckle. She seemed the same as always. "Don't you laugh at me," she growled. "I'm completely serious here. I WILL find you." Using an accent he had been taught for one of his movies, he began to speak.

"I was wondering if I could talk to a Miss West."

"No. You can't." Her voice was bitter now.

"And why not?"

"Because I don't know who the fuck you are."

"So you're admitting you're Miss West?"

"I'm not Miss West."

He took a deep breath and remembered what Liz said. _It's your turn now. Do something._ He stopped using the accent and began to speak. "I know it's you, Jade."

"Who the fuck are you?" She didn't remember his voice? Well, it had been eleven years. She had a good reason to. _Do something._ Her voice repeated itself in his mind.

"It's Beck." He waited for the explosion. She knew she'd get pissed. Jade West had never been the girl to give up easily.

All he heard was a soft clatter, a loud bang as if something had been thrown against the wall, and one word. "No." Then the line went dead. He placed the phone back down on his desk and sighed. If he really wanted her, he'd have to try harder.

"Didn't go so well, huh?" Liz was leaning against the doorframe, arms folded. She really did look like Jade as an eleven year old, just more colorful. If he had taken that image of Liz in his head and replaced it with Jade's clothes, Liz could've been Jade's twin. He nodded wordlessly. "Try harder. I think you knew her better than she did."

"How do I try harder?"

"You think about it, Beck. Once again, I've done everything I could, and it's your turn to do something, whatever it may be. If it's something big and drastic, like going to California, then James and I will help. If it's not big and drastic, you're on your own. But you have to have a starting point, the reason why she ran away. What is it?" Beck began to sift through the memories imbedded in his brain until he found the specific one that happened eleven years ago.

_Flashback_

_"Come on, Beck," she panted, grinding herself against him. "Either open it properly or forget it." He chose the latter._

_They were both in a terribly drunken state, having slipped into a bar and convincing the bartender they were both at legal age to drink, even though they were only fourteen. Now they had ended up in his RV, doing the inevitable._

_"Are you sure you're gonna be okay?" he whispered, having concern for her even in his drunken state._

_"I'll be fine, but only if you actually do it!" He nodded and they fucked until Jade collapsed on top of him, worn out from the many rounds of sex. He said one thing that was true that night._

_"I love you."_

_End Flashback_

"I fucked Jade." he whispered.

"And what do you think happened?"

He looked down, seemingly ashamed of himself. "She got pregnant.." Liz nodded, chewing on a piece of gum.

"And here I am now. But my life is screwed up, so you're going to fix it. It's your responsibility."

"Why mine?"

"You're my father." Liz rolled her eyes at him. "So you have to be a father and do what's best for your child. Don't you know anything?" He nodded. "Then get off your lazy butt and do something!"

"I will." And he did. He went and booked the next flight out to LA, because he sure as hell wanted his Jade back and he also wanted Liz to be his daughter and James to be his son. He wanted to have a normal, four-person family, with maybe a dog. For Liz, of course, Jade never liked furry animals.

**Some Beck and Jade conflict in the next few chapters. But yay, two half-decent chapters in one night! :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Can't say how many chapters will be up this week. Also, this chapter might accidentally switch around from past tense to present tense. Sorry!**

She was leaning against the doorframe of the same house she grew up in when he saw her again. She was wearing a short black dress that stopped just above her knees, and the rest of the way down covering her legs were a pair of faded jeans. She wore a simple pair of black Converse on her feet. Her hair was longer, as a child it had been to her shoulders, but now it cascaded down her back. She had a cigarette hanging out of her mouth, just watching the traffic, when she saw a "stranger" walking up to her.

"What do you want?" she asked in a slightly irritated tone. She loved Liz, she really did, but without her here it had been very peaceful, and she could smoke in the house.

"I want to talk to you." he answered. She froze, and she had to keep her mouth tight so the cigarette wouldn't fall out because of her shock. It was Beck. She couldn't believe he had taken the liberty of going to California when she KNEW he lived in Colorado. "Fuck," she muttered quietly. He stopped on the porch, looking at her warily. He didn't know what she would do. It had been eleven years..

"Why didn't you tell me?"

She looked up at him, a strand of hair slightly covering her left eye. "Tell you what?" she asked innocently. "Tell me that you had a daughter." He was going to get into personal questions like that? Two could play that game. "Why didn't you tell me that you married Cat?" It was silent for a few minutes. She was smirking up at him, and he was just looking her over. She really hadn't changed, she just looked like a slightly older version of herself. She was.

"Jade.."

"Beck.."

"I'm serious. Why didn't you tell me you got pregnant?" She took a drag from her cigarette while watching him. He folded his arms expectantly, waiting for an answer. Finally, she sighed, closed her eyes for a brief moment, and reopened them. "I didn't tell you because I thought you didn't want to deal with it." Hearing those words fall from her lips, as well as the tone of those words, made his heart break. "I would've helped you, Jade," he said softly. "I loved you." She appears exasperated at this.

"We were barely teenagers, Beck. We weren't.." she laughs softly, as if recalling some good memory, but he knows she isn't. "Responsible. And we were drunk. So when I found out I was pregnant, I packed up everything that mattered to me and moved in with a cousin in Florida." He stares at her in slight disbelief. "She.. She went through a teenage pregnancy too."

"How.. How did you..?" The question just can't fall from his lips, it's almost like it's stuck to his tongue with glue.

"My cousin started to help me look for acting jobs. She wanted me to have a normal life. I had Liz when I was 14, and she lived for most of her life in Florida, in an odd little family of 5. Including her. When I was 20, I learned that Florida wasn't right for me. So my cousin gave me some cash, enough to buy this old house back, and I moved back to California. Yeah, the house was for sale when I came back. So here we are." She smiles, but it's a rueful smile. The smile drops after a few seconds, and she continues. "And then I learn that you married Cat, and you "had a kid" with her, who's actually adopted."

"You're right." he mutters. He doesn't know what to feel, shock or shame or pity. He really doesn't know.

"Should I be glad that you came here?"

"I.. I don't know." He runs a hand through his hair, and she quickly notices that it's still the same. She wonders what it would be like to run her fingers through it, like she did before, then she shakes her head to get rid of that thought. She's not supposed to love him anymore. "I loved you," he repeated. She tilts her head and takes another drag from her cigarette. "You weren't ready," she says. "Neither was I. And I'd really like to go back in my house and leave you on the porch, but since you'd get lost, come in." She steps inside and he follows her. She shuts the door behind him and turns to face him.

"Sit," she said. Then she remembered that she had forgotten to lock her closet.. She needed to, just in case he decided to go wandering upstairs. She disappeared from the room and he waited for her to come back. He looked around as he waited.

There was a small stack of magazines on the clear glass coffee table, and a vase with one rose in it, the rose dyed black. He gently took the rose out of the vase and noticed the thorns were still on it. Typical Jade. He put the rose back in the vase, being careful not to prick himself on one of the thorns.

Jade comes back downstairs and Beck notices there's a girl behind her who doesn't look too different from her. Beck almost thinks he's hallucinating, but Jade comes downstairs and the girl stays at the top of the stairs. Jade sits down on the couch and watches as Beck starts to flip through some of the magazines.

"What now?" she asked softly. He looked up, gently dropping the magazine back onto the coffee table. "I don't know what's next, Jade. I mean.. I'm married."

"I never said anything about our relationship, Becklett. Just think of it as terminated." His heart tugs slightly as she speaks. He's still in love with her. Oh hell. Jade watches as his attention drifts to the stairs. The girl who was at the top of the stairs is starting to walk down.

"What?" she asks. "What are you looking at?"

"Uh, nothing." But he can't help noticing that now, the girl is right behind Jade. And she's not a hallucination.

**It kinda shifts the attention away from Beck and Jade.. Can anyone guess who the girl is? The answer will be revealed next chapter. The girl will be helping Beck and Jade. But with what?**

**It might be a little difficult, so I'll give you a hint: Liz Gillies has played the role. That's why she looks like Jade.**


	7. Chapter 7

**I didn't know how many people were familiar with 13, that's why I gave the hint last chapter. Anyways, I like reviews, so if you can, review please. No, I'm not a review whore. I just like knowing what people think about the story. Honestly. And everyone who guessed who the girl was got it right. XD I apologize once again if the tenses switch around. And I normally don't have copy and paste thingies on my profile, but I think it was osnapitzJess who said that the word Bademance should be put in the dictionary. Go to my profile for a petition-thingy! Please?**

The girl smirked and tapped Jade on the shoulder. Jade looked up, slightly startled. She appeared to be confused, but nevertheless she leaped up and hugged the girl. "Lucy! What are you doing here?" Lucy smiled. "I figured you needed some help. I came at the right time too." She walked around from behind the couch to sit down next to Jade.

"Beck, this is my cousin, Lucy." Lucy nodded. "I've heard of you." She said it in an almost flirtatious tone, causing her to receive a glare from Jade. "Jade, I'm kidding. I know he's yours." Jade glared at Lucy again. She only raised her eyebrow in question.

"See, Lucy-"

"Let me explain."

"Okay."

Lucy took a deep breath and began to talk. "Jade and I were really close when we were younger, even though we were five years apart. We lived in the same house because my mom moved in with her mom." Jade smiled, as if she was recalling a good memory of them. "When I was nine, my mom told me we had to move to a really tiny town. Appleton, Indiana. I didn't want to go, but I had to. But I made friends, got popular, and eventually came to accept it." Beck still couldn't believe they were just cousins. They could've been identical twins. They had the same personality, the same appearance.. "When I was thirteen, I got pregnant. It was.." she drifted off, trying to find a good word to use. Jade glanced at Lucy, almost appearing to be nervous, until Lucy continued.

"It was a mistake. A one-time thing. But I called Jade, told her even though she probably didn't understand, and told the father. I left Indiana because my life would've been hell there. The father came after me, though, so it wasn't that bad. A little family, I suppose. But Jade talked to me all the time. She stopped calling me, though, and I was shocked to get a call from her later, because she hadn't called me in a couple of years. I was nineteen, that was eleven years ago. Jade was in tears, she didn't know what to do. So I just got her a flight to Florida. It was the only thing I could think to do."

Beck was staring at Jade in a mixture of disbelief and sadness. His expression was so readable that it almost hurt. _Why didn't you tell me?_

Lucy continued to talk, seemingly unaware of their silent conversation. "For a while, it was an awkward little family of five. Me, Jade, Liz, my husband and my son. But Jade wanted to go back to California. So I helped her get back here.." she trailed off, now noticing the silent conversation between them. "I'll leave you two alone," she said, rising from the couch and moving toward the stairs.

"Jade," Beck's voice cracked slightly, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice hardly distinguishable even in the thick silence of the room. At that moment, the phone began to ring, slightly startling Beck. He glanced at Jade, but she made no move to answer the phone, so he did.

"Hello?"

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" It was Liz. She was obviously pissed off about something. "I didn't do anything," Beck insisted. "Yes, you did. I know you did. Boy, is Cat mad." "Cat?" He had forgotten about her. Jade looked up at the mention of her former best friend.

"Yep, she's mad. She yelled at us. And I think she's crying." _Way to go_, he thought. _You hurt both of them._ "Tell Cat I'm sorry, okay, Liz? Tell her this is really important. Tell her I'll come back." "Okay. But you better hurry. I don't think much good is gonna come from this." The line went dead.

"What happened?" Jade asked quietly. She hadn't been filled in on Beck's life during the past eleven years. "Apparently, Cat's pissed off."

"Why?"

"I didn't tell her I was going to California."

"Oh." There was an awkward silence that filled the room, both of them with lots of things to say but too reluctant to voice. Jade's eyes raked over his body appreciatively. He was leaning against the wall and she could see the faint outline of his abs through his thin T-shirt.

It suddenly hit them like a brick. It had been there all along, it just took a while to sink in.

They were still in love.

And it took Beck a full minute to realize they were kissing and he had hitched her leg around his waist and she was grinding against him through her jeans. But he didn't stop her.

The plan was working perfectly.


	8. Chapter 8

**So yeah, most of this has been laying in my document manager for like six months. But I finally finished the chapter! YAY! -victory dance- Or something like that. I'm really busy with school, but I gave up ten minutes for my homework to finish it just for my fans. xD**

They broke apart and Beck gently pushed her away.

"Jade, I-I can't. I'm married. To Cat. I don't want to hurt her!"

Jade stared at Beck intensely, and she could feel hot tears prickling at her eyes. She may have been confident on the outside, but on the inside, she was a mess. She loved Beck, but Beck was married to Cat. Beck loved Jade, but he was married to Cat. Jade had been Cat's best friend. It was a very difficult, troubling situation.

Her lips moved, but no sound came out. She was saying something, and Beck mentally cursed himself for being bad at lip-reading.

Then it hit him.

But before he could answer her, she was gone.

"Damn it!" he cursed, slamming his fist against the wall. He ran a hand through his hair, forehead pressed against the wall. "I let her go.. Why? Why the fuck did I let her go in the first place?" They were still in love. It was obvious.

Beck had just made the biggest mistake of his life.

There was no way to fix this.

Even if there was, it would hurt someone in the process.

He didn't want to hurt anyone.

He just wanted his Jade back.

* * *

Jade was sitting against the trunk of an old tree, shaded by its branches. Her bag had been thrown carelessly next to her, and her mascara-streaked face was enough indication that something bad had happened to her. She had told Beck the truth. She loved him. She was broken. She needed his comfort, his touch, she _craved _it like a drug.

Her phone beeped. It was a text from Beck.

_From: Beck_

_can u see me?_

She didn't know what he meant, so she just tossed her phone on the ground, ignoring the text altogether.

"I loved you," she whispered, in a voice so low only she could hear it, but the words were to Beck. "You went and married my best friend behind my back." The wind gently licked at her hair as she spoke, making it dance lightly around her face.

"But I still love you." She heard a familiar voice, and her blood went cold. She froze.

"Leave me alone." she hissed.

She felt a warm touch, the feel of strong arms wrapping around her, and unconsciously leaned into the person holding her. It was Beck. She snuggled into his embrace, Cat completely forgotten.

"I love you." she whispered, burying her head in his shoulder, allowing her mascara to stain his shirt.

"I love you too." He stroked her back gently, soothing her. He could not be happier when he was with this girl, this girl who thought so low of herself; yet to Beck, she was much higher than he was. He didn't deserve someone like her.

"I don't deserve you," he whispered into her hair.

"No. I don't deserve you," was her muffled answer. "I left you, with no regard of how you would feel." A pang of hurt went through his heart as he remembered how heartbroken he was when he learned that Jade had left. He had refused to go to school for weeks. He thought he wasn't good enough. He kept trying to figure out what he did wrong, how he could fix it if she came back, and other things that never even lead up to the real reason of why she had left.

For a few minutes, there was silence. Beck and Jade communicated through silent whispers, a touch here, a kiss there, both trying to slowly repair their broken hearts, carefully sewing them up. Every second was more important than the last; Beck gently combing his fingers through Jade's hair, Jade listening to the sound of Beck's heartbeat, their hands intertwined, just as they were during lunch at Hollywood Arts.

"Beck?" Jade whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think things will go back to normal?"

"I don't know, Jade. I really don't know, and I wish I did."

She sighed, and decided to be comforted by the rhythmic sound of his heartbeat. It soothed her, knowing that he was there with her, and he wasn't going to go anywhere, as long as she didn't want him to.

Beck couldn't love her anymore than he did at that minute.


End file.
